Easily overlooked, or mistaken for an old wooden shaft, this is one of three whale jaw bones brought back to Cardigan by Captain James Ellis in 1871. He gifted two to Cardigan Castle and this one to the vicar of St Dogmaels. It languished in the vicarage garden for over a century but was removed when the vicarage was sold and placed against the exterior wall of the church. It seems a shame, and a lost opportunity, that it has not been given the care and respect it deserves. The other two have recently been professionally conserved and reconstructed into a whalebone arch at the Castle, see
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(I have made efforts to alert community organisations in St Dogmael's as to the need to protect this remarkable heritage item, from exposure to the weather at the very least, but so far nothing has happened.)